Recently, it was my turn to cook dinner. I don’t mind, and – truth be told – I enjoy it. It’s creative and you can nearly always eat the results.
Whenever Harris-Teeter puts their frozen shrimp on sale, we load up. Since their deal is usually ‘buy two two-pound bags and get three free’ – we end up with a buttload of shrimp. So, I’m always on the lookout for shrimp recipes. You can’t just boil ’em every time.
So it was that I ran across a Food Network recipe called Cajun Shrimp and Rice. Checking over the ingredient list, of which there are just ten, I decided it was doable. And that I wouldn’t have to pick up a bunch of obscure ingredients at the store which always end up going bad in the refrigerator...

Quite often, I’ll see a Food Network post on Facebook which will send me off looking at various recipes. That happened yesterday when I saw a dessert post which led me to another site which led to another…
I wound up looking at a very simple dessert called Lemon Cream Cheese Pie. Desserts are naturally guilt-inducing, especially since I managed to lose some thirty pounds last year and have put some effort into keeping it off, so I try to find ways to lower the carb count. With this recipe, I could substitute with some lower-sugar ingredients and still keep it delicious.
Herewith follows the slightly modified recipe (based on a Cooks.com item):
Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
Pre-made graham cracker crust (higher in sugar)
OR
Combine 1 1/2 C of crushed...

Recently, I found a recipe for stromboli which intrigued me. I had discovered this Italian dish a few years back and have ordered it on several occasions since. So, when I stumbled across a pretty easy recipe, I decided to give it a try.
When I say ‘easy recipe’, I mean one with a limited number of ingredients and uncomplicated directions. For example, if a recipe starts out, “…first you make a roux…”, I quickly move on. I’m not trying to snag my own cooking show on TV, I just want to enjoy a creative process which results in something to eat, and doesn’t require a cartful of exotic ingredients from “Whole Paycheck.”
Now, you could call stromboli ‘guy food’, but that doesn’t mean your family and/or...

Some years ago, when I found myself at the age of forty and newly single, a realization dawned: if I wanted to feed myself affordably, I was going to have to learn to cook something besides a steak on the grill and a warmed-up can of green beans.
Seriously, that’s all I knew how to cook, although ‘cook’ probably isn’t the most accurate word. Grilling is cooking, but opening a can of vegetables and nuking them really isn’t. Kind of like comparing ‘writing’ to ‘typing’. Similar yet different.
There was a woman back then – isn’t there always – that I wanted to impress and with whom I wanted to spend some time, in private, if you get my drift. I thought inviting her to my (temporary) furnished apartment...